Maybe the cocaine fairy left it in his car

You've probably seen it by now, but you can watch last night's Mansbridge interview with Helena Guergis here.

In it, a soft spoken and visibly shaken Guergis presents herself as being completely trusting of her husband and completely in the dark as to what's been going on and how cocaine found it's way into Jaffer's car.

Cutting her Loose

It's official: Tories drop Guergis as riding candidate

The Conservative Party's National Council has bounced Helena Guergis as the nominated candidate for Simcoe-Grey, CTV News has learned.

She was informed of the decision Wednesday afternoon, as was her riding association, CTV Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported.

Sources told CTV News that Guergis was removed as a candidate because Conservatives are concerned an election could be called at any moment, and they need to have nominated candidates in all 308 ridings.

You know, that explanation would be a lot more believable if they weren't still over 100 candidates short of a full 308-riding slate.

I understand why they booted Guergis from Cabinet. And I can see the argument that she be removed from caucus while the RCMP investigates her. But to strip her nomination before seeing what the RCMP probe unearths?

Something just doesn't add up, and I suspect there may be more to this story than we've heard so far (and lord knows we've heard a lot so far).

Bag O Links

1. This very cool site tracks polls, projections, and betting lines on the British election. (hat tip Coyne)


2. This nagging case of Jaffergis has become more annoying than a cold you can't shake, but for those interested, the latest is that the Tories don't want her to run again. Gee, you think?


3. Daveberta recaps the spring session of the Alberta legislature now that school is out for the summer.


4. Je suis un peu tard to the party on this one, but I firmly disagree with Ignatieff's decision to support the private members bill requiring Supreme Court Judges to be bilingual in English and French. Since the bill has passed third reading in the House, Rob Silver raises the delicious possibility of Harper calling on the unelected and undemocratic senate to kill it.


5. Over at PuckProb, I've updated the playoff probabilities and have a post up on the odds of coming back from a 3-1 series deficit.

"I Have Made Mistakes"

Guergis out:

April 9, 2010

This morning, I tendered my resignation as Minister of State for Status of Women to the Prime Minister which he accepted.

The past 9 months have been a very difficult time for me. I have made mistakes for which I have apologised. I want the people of PEI to know that when I spoke emotionally I was speaking about the airport as I would never insult my father's birthplace. I apologise again. I have worked hard for Canadian women and I am proud of my record of my accomplishments on their behalf.

I will continue in my position as MP for Simcoe-Grey and continue to serve my community.

Sincerely,

Helena Guergis, MP Simcoe Grey

Cocaine and Busty Hookers

I don't really have much to say, I just wanted to get the search engine hits from the above title. But if you do want to read all the details of Rahim Jaffer's arrest, the Toronto Star dishes the dirt.

This has set off another round of calls to punt Helena Guergis - personally, I'm not really sure what to think of this whole saga anymore. Should Guergis be held responsible for the sins of her husband? Absolutely not. Is it really such a big deal that, like every other person in Canada, she gets frustrated at airport security? Meh. Who really cares that her staffers wrote some letters to the editor - I'm sure most Ottawa staffers have done the same.

I can't really fault Harper for standing behind his Minister, but the feeding frenzy is on and her credibility has been shot. My guess is Guergis is quietly shuffled aside on a Friday afternoon this August.